It seems that there's no real fixed length for chapters in the realm of written literature. Chapters can be any number of sizes, varying from over thirty pages to just a couple of paragraphs.

However, I do admit that limitations can be useful. I imagine that forcing oneself to write to a certain page count may be a way of training oneself to have more control over the length of the writing one produces.

And the structure of the book itself can be a tool for storytelling if used properly, just as panel size and panel count are.

Nowadays my page length is just a side effect of my writing, but I if was a good enough writer to have control over the length of my books, then I think I could leverage that tool to improve my storytelling.

In the case of my comic, my first chapter is about thirty pages, and most other chapters seem to be about twenty pages. Even if I don't consciously exercise control over my chapter length, my writing keeps arriving at this average length.I wonder if it's just the subconscious influence of having read too many standard issue comics?

Printing is an interesting side of this problem that I never thought about, I'm glad you guys brought it up.I never considered printing my comic in any other format than the full, completed book. That mostly has to do with the story not being too long and my chapters being too intertwined to be able to easily separate them from the rest of the work. This, coupled with my inability to assist conventions and my lack of following, means there would be very little point in putting the effort required to make those smaller books happen.It's good to know that page count actually has an impact on how one goes about printing, though. Seems like one of those things that would be really hard to fix once you screw up.

Maybe I should start practicing by writing forum posts for a specific page count. Heh.

Several years ago when I was printing more minis (before I put out the perfect bound volumes), I had one that was 28 pages-- technically the story itself was 25 pages, and I had to dig pretty hard to scrounge up enough extra content to fill the remaining 3 pages, but the printer had no qualm with the length not being a multiple of 8. With small press POD runs, it's not really a thing.

With larger offset runs, the multiples of 8 thing is less flexible-- but most indie comic types will only use an offset process if they're printing a perfect bound volume, and it's pretty normal for those to have a blank page or two thrown in at the start or end so it's not something anyone should worry about.

Basically, don't worry too much about trying to conform your page count for printing unless you plan to print over 500 offset copies of a stapled 32-page-or-less mini comic (or are constrained by a publisher). XD There's nothing wrong with adding a couple more pages of filler, title cards, or bonus art if you're in a pinch.

I'm usually looking for places where the story catches a natural break and call that the end of the chapter.

Ah, this is exactly what I do! I like to look for good natural breaks or good a good spot for the long pause a new chapter brings. My chapter page counts usually fall somewhere between 30-40 pages. I do have a chapter or two that's in the 20+ page range, and very rarely do I do a mega chapter that is in the low 60s for page count. I usually just give myself a lot of freedom and figure that when I print I will add in extra content to get to the even page count I need....and I kinda also like adding extra content to my books. XD

I'm a big advocate of having each chapter as long as it needs to be, with some consideration to overall pacing and how quickly the story will be made public.

Like, Part 6 of my comic is pretty prolonged and dreary to play with tense emotional themes. I'm glad it's now published, but interest dipped a bit when it was just one angsty desert page after another.

The current Interlude will be the longest one yet: seventeen pages, when they're usually about ten. But this has a bouncing-between-timeframes schtick that necessarily takes up time, and it's a fun plot beat with a well-liked character that significantly moves the plot along.

I'd say: plan out chapter frameworks to some degree, know where you're going, but make peace with having different lengths when necessary.

Our scripting is very scene oriented and the scenes depict certain events we want to have in the comic. We have the outline of the whole story planned out and we know more or less what we want to show. So then we decide what goes together well and that's how we decide what comprises chapters and whole volumes (we will most probably close the 1st volume after the 7th chapter).

How many pages are in a given scene depends on the dialogue and action that goes into it. We write down a full dialogue and Joolita (sometimes with my help) divides it into pages and panels.

Of course this means that there can't be a standardised number of pages. We have scenes that have 3 pages and those that have like 10 pages. And chapters also have varied numbers of scenes. But they are not shorter then 25 pages and not longer than 45. So there ends up to be some minimal consistency. But this just goes to show that we're not seriously considering ever printing the comic. Because we've never researched the printing requirements. ^^;

As other people before me seem to also conclude the fact whether one actually wants to print the comic is the deciding factor when it comes to controlling the page count.

When I first wrote scripts for my comic I was aiming for 20 something pages per chapter. In my mind I was going for a printed version, so the pages where designed to fit the idiosyncrasies of printed media, like double spreads on even-numbered pages, reveals on even numbered pages, and filler pages.

Currently I'm making shorter chapters, of about 16 to 18 pages. The main reason is webcomic time. Weekly updates make the story move slowly, so I have streamlined the storytelling.

My comic is structured in pretty clear cut "arcs," and so my original intention was to have each "arc" be it's own chapter. However, when I started the first arc, I realized that it was likely going to be over 100 pages, and so from there, I decided I'd split the arcs into three, cutting at the end of each "act."

So far, my first chapter was 40 pages, my second is 50 pages and my third chapter is projected to be about 40-50 as well, so my goal is to keep my chapters at about this length with a maximum of 60 pages.

I recognize that my chapters are a lot longer than most of the other webcomics that I see online, and I think my downfall when it comes to this kind of thing is that my storytelling sense is just not set up for webcomics. I structure my stories as if they were being prepared for TVA or film, and my only real reference point for comic pacing is the mangas I used to read as a kid, which also had much larger page counts per book than others. My comic chapters currently are structured as if they are the manuscripts for a 30 minute TV slot.

I try to keep my comic chapters between 20-25 pages. I've learned how to 'trim the fat' so to speak, and make sure that every page is integral to the story. If I don't impose limitations upon myself, I find that my comics tend to meander a bit.

I don't have a regulation for chapter pages. The first two chapters of Falconhyrste are like 10 pages each, and our recent chapter is getting close to 40, haha. It shows improvement, especially in the writing.

But having no page limit on webcomics is probably a great plus. There are webcomics out there that have like 800 and are still going strong on plot. I've estimated Falconhyrste will probably get well over 800-1000 pages by its end. We're almost done with part one and that will probably be around 200 pages. Parts one and two are even longer, so it'll be a lot more.

I'm with the majority of the crowd here, I think— I keep my chapters at a goal length (30 to 40 pages) and do my very, very best to keep them in that limit. But if I need more room to tell the story, I'll go up a little higher, and if I don't need so many I'm sure as heck not going to add filler to make it longer… I don't have the time to draw any unnecessary scenes!!

Since it's been brought up, I also don't worry much about keeping my chapters in multiples of four— I figure that with print copies I can just add bonus content in the back to round the page count up. And I do plan all my comic pages two at a time so my bleed works, since at least half my spreads are full-bleed!!